Milestones: 1784–1800

Constitutional Convention and Ratification, 1787–1789

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between
May and September of 1787 to address the problems of
the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation.
The United States Constitution that emerged from the convention established a
federal government with more specific powers, including those related to
conducting relations with foreign governments. Under the reformed federal
system, many of the responsibilities for foreign affairs fell under the
authority of an executive branch, although important powers, such as treaty
ratification, remained the responsibility of the legislative branch. After the
necessary number of state ratifications, the Constitution came into effect in
1789 and has served as the basis of the United States Government ever since.

The U.S. Constitution

Under the Articles of Confederation, the federal government faced many challenges
in conducting foreign policy, largely due to its inability to pass or enforce
laws that individual states found counter to their interests. The 1783 Treaty of
Paris, which ended the American War of Independence, stipulated that debts owed
by Americans to British subjects were to be honored, and also stipulated that
former British loyalists could bring forth suits in U.S. courts to recover
confiscated property. These provisions were unpopular and many states blocked
their enforcement. This led to British refusal to vacate military forts in U.S.
territory. Additionally, after the war, British traders flooded U.S. markets
with British goods, to the detriment of American importers and manufacturers.
The Confederation Congress lacked the authority to regulate this trade, and
intrastate trade was further hampered by states’ own attempts to impose import
duties on goods from elsewhere in the United States. Lastly, the Spanish
Government, which controlled New Orleans, barred American ships from navigating
the Mississippi River. Southern delegates to the Confederation Congress wanted
to lift this ban, while coastal merchants, especially in the northeast, were
willing to make concessions in exchange for a treaty with otherwise favorable
commercial terms. The large majorities necessary for ratification of such
measures under the Articles of Confederation often resulted in the deadlock
along sectional lines between North and South.

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

In attempting to resolve such issues, as well as problems arising from the
payment of debts from the Revolutionary War and other domestic issues, the
delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a model of government that
relied upon a series of checks and balances by dividing federal authority
between the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Executive branches of government.
The framers of the Constitution had originally imagined a weak presidency and a
strong legislature divided into a House of Representatives and the Senate. Under
the Articles of Confederation, considerable minor paperwork had bogged down
important business enough that legislators decided to establish an executive
branch to deal with routine paperwork. When writing the Constitution, the
framers expected the Senate to handle important issues, particularly the
ratification of treaties, while the Executive would attend to matters of lesser
consequence. However, as deliberations continued, the Executive branch acquired
more power to deal with some of the issues that had been a source of sectional
tension under the Articles of Confederation—and so the President acquired the
authority to conduct foreign relations. The two-thirds clause for ratification
of treaties in the Senate, as opposed to a simple majority, allowed the South a
greater voice in these matters and assuaged concerns about the attempts to
abandon navigation of the Mississippi.

The Constitution does not stipulate existence of departments within the executive
branch, but the need for such departments was recognized immediately. Congress
passed legislation creating the Department of Foreign Affairs in its first
session in 1789, and in the same year changed the name to the Department of
State after it added several additional domestic duties to the Department.

After the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, the machinery of state had
been designed, but not yet tested and put to use. The provisions for management
of foreign affairs would be put to the test in 1794, when the Senate had the
opportunity to accept or reject the controversial treaty with Great
Britain negotiated by John Jay.